UPDATE 1-Militiamen briefly storm Libyan parliament to demand vote

TRIPOLI, Jan 14 Former Libyan militia fighters
stormed parliament on Tuesday and fired in the air to try to
force assembly members to take a no-confidence vote against
Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.

The brief incident highlighted Libya's struggle to contain
former rebels and militias who often turn to force to make
demands on the weak central government two years after they
helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in a civil war.

About 30 militiamen, most armed with rifles, forced their
way into the General National Congress (GNC) parliament compound
in Tripoli, opening fire and briefly blocking one entrance
before assembly members escaped via another route, witnesses and
security sources said.

"We were in the middle of discussions, when armed protesters
stormed into the GNC demanding that we hold a vote of no
confidence," Saad Bin Sharada, a GNC member, told Reuters.

Political transition is messy in Libya, where parliament has
yet to complete key steps to democracy since Gaddafi's fall in
2011, including the drafting and approval of a new constitution.

Parliament is deadlocked between secular and Islamist
parties over a roadmap to democracy, while militias that once
helped fight Gaddafi have refused to disarm, claiming Tripoli is
too weak to guarantee stability.

Opponents of Zeidan, who was himself briefly abducted last
year by former rebels now on the government payroll, are trying
to muster support for a vote of no confidence against him. But
even critics say there is no clear candidate to replace him.

Two years after the NATO-backed war, the most serious
challenge comes from the east, where a former rebel commander
and hero of the uprising against Gaddafi has taken over three
key oil ports to demand more regional autonomy.

Zeidan said on Tuesday the government would give mediators a
chance to end a standoff with protesters blockading eastern
ports, seeking a peaceful solution even after an escalation of
the dispute last week.

MEDIATION VERSUS FORCE

Libya's navy last week fired warning shots at an oil tanker
the government said tried to load crude at one of the terminals
seized by protesters who are demanding more political
independence from Tripoli and a greater share of oil revenues.

With Libya's leadership hamstrung by infighting and a
nascent army still in training, Zeidan's government may have
little option but to seek help from mediators in trying to
negotiate an end to the crisis.

For several months, delegations from the GNC and tribal
leaders have reached out to protesters, but with little success.

"We are now in touch with mediators who intend to (talk
to)those occupying the ports," Zeidan said at a press
conference.

"We have two solutions: Through force or peaceful means. We
preferred the peaceful way. We have found some people who say
they can do this, and we will give them the chance."

Libya's crude production last week was at around 600,000
barrels per day, down from 1.4 million bpd, putting a strain on
public finances that depend almost completely on oil earnings.

Eastern oil protesters in August took over the ports of Ras
Lanuf, Es-Sider and Zueitina, which previously accounted for
600,000 bpd in exports.

Eastern federalists from the self-declared Cyrenaica
government promise that ships can safely dock at the ports they
control, dismissing Zeidan's warnings that tankers may be
destroyed if they try.

But even with the government's limited military resources,
experts say, protesters may struggle to find tanker operators
willing to risk entering ports to load cargoes of discounted
crude, which the government would see as an act of piracy.

Negotiations have had more success in the west and the
south, where protests ended at the major El Sharara field,
allowing production to rise again to around 328,000 bpd,
according to the state-run National Oil Corp.

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